Although the United States has adopted a new approach to making health care more accessible to its citizen through the Affordable Care Act, many people continue to say that the government should not be involved in controlling health care. Most people agree that Medicare has been providing, successfully, needed health care to America’s senior citizens for decades, with a very low administrative overhead. But, to expand that coverage to all Americans is seen as a dilution of individual freedom. Others argue that universal health care will cause services to degrade, cost too much in taxes, deny patients choice, or limit doctor’s abilities to provide quality service. But, one of the most ludicrous and short sighted arguments is that universal health care is not a right, as presented by Leonard Peikoff, founder of the Ayn Rand Institute and Lin Zinser. However, governments, including the United States, should recognize their responsibility to provide universal health care as a human right for all citizens.
Peikoff and Zinser begin their argument against government involvement in health care by stating Americans rights are limited to “. . .life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.” (Peikoff, “Healthcare is Not a Right,” Ayn Rand Center). They argue that these are rights of “action” and are the “moral” rights that made this a “country of individualism and personal independence.”
The second support for their opposition to government health care is that only a minority of people in the United States can’t afford health care. “If they were the majority, the country would be an utter bankrupt. . .” While it is true that a majority of Americans can afford health care of some kind, it is not a “small minority” who are without insurance or health care. In 2013 48 million Americans were uninsured, over 15% of the population. (Young, 48 Million Americans, Huffington Post) This statistic covers only those who were counted by the census. It does not include the thousands who are homeless and not counted by the census. Peikoff and Zinser assert that these people can be taken care of by “voluntary charity.” But, no health care charity exists that can care for the diverse health needs of 48 million people living in cities and towns across this vast country.
The introduction of the Affordable Care Act is an attempt, by government, to address some of these millions to be able to receive health care. It is still failing to meet the needs of many because of states that have refused to expand their Medicaid services to enable more poor to get reduced federally financed health care. These states are accepting the illogical thinking of the Rand writers that some anonymous charity will care for the poor.
Finally, a quote from Ayn Rand, herself, is used to support their argument against government providing universal health care. “Doctors, Ayn Rand wrote, are not servants of their patients. They are ‘traders, like everyone else in a free society, and they should bear that title proudly, considering the crucial importance of the services they offer.” But, the medical profession is not a trade like carpentry or plumbing. On its highest levels, to be a doctor is to serve and help people. Not for, “The doctors must defend themselves and their own interests as a matter of solemn justice, upholding a moral principle, the first moral principle: self-preservation.”
Yet, many doctors accept the principle of the Hippocratic oath that states, “I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.” (Tyson, Peter, “The Hippocratic Oath Today,”) To care for people’s health involves compassion and a concern for others, not selfish “self-preservation.
In conclusion, governments that are signatories to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should provide universal health care for all of their citizens. This health care can take many forms but the primary goal and aim should be to assure that all citizens of the country have access to basic health care. The arguments presented by these writers show a lack of understanding of the role of government and an erroneously shortsighted interpretation of human rights. Any government in the 21st Century that claims to be modern and advanced will find the resources and means to provide all of its citizens with the basic human right of health care.
Works Cited
Peikoff, Leonard, Zinser, Lin. “Health Care is not a Right.” The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. n.d. 04 March 2014.
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” UN.org. 03 March 2014.
Tyson, Peter. “The Hippocratic Oath Today.” NOVA. 27 March 2001. PBS.org. Web. 04 March 2014.
Young, Jeffrey. “48 Million Americans are Uninsured Ahead of Obamacare Changes.” Huffington Post.com. 17 September 2013. Web. 04 March 2014.
